Whether it would be watching TV, playing a sport, drawing (for me its more like doodling), getting on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest (I don’t do Pinterest, but I know peeps that do…. dancing, working-out, playing video games-LITERALLY WHATEVER “floats your boat”, there is a time and a place where Pleasure and Play is necessary.

Yes I said necessary.

God did create the Sabbath as a time of rest. That’s back in Genesis 2:2-3. Jesus Christ even said that the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27). Observing and resting on the Sabbath (originally our Saturday) was done in order that human beings would keep their sanity and not succumb to becoming workaholics.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” -James 1:17. Paraphrasing words from C.S. Lewis:
The Lord is disappointed with our desires. Disappointed because our desires are too weak. Every pleasure and good thing has been created by God. Sure Satan can twist good things and pervert them, to where they become unhealthy.
But Truly, Every single good thing is from God and He does like for us to play, rest, and take pleasure in good fun things!!

Working, studying, paying bills, budgeting, are great things. But I will argue that part of being responsible is living a full life.
A full life must be a balanced life. Following Christ includes knowing JOY :D. It’s one of the results or “fruits” from the Holy Spirit (2nd on the list right after Love and before Peace and Patience Galatians 5:22-23).

So, please be aware that a full life means having fun and enjoying time to relax, rest, recharge, and LIVE.

First and foremost, I seriously hope you enjoyed that video! (Things You Just Don’t Hear MNU Students Say.) Shout out to those who created it…cuz it was amazing! (P.S. I watched it like five times the day it aired…)

Anyway, on to other news, today is an exciting day because it’s SCOUT!!!

SCOUT simply stands for Students Checking Out University Turf. Basically, Juniors, Seniors, and even Freshman or Sophomores, come to campus on a Thursday and Friday. It’s an overnight event where students will get the chance to sleep in the dorms (exciting), attended a few classes of their choosing (also exciting) and eat in our cafeteria!!! (VERY exciting!!!….Uh, kinda…more or less….we’ll talk about that in a different blog.)

But the besides all of that, they will get the chance to experience student life–which is what’s important. There’s basketball games, open mic, Land Gym, and a whole heap of events. Unfortunately, this is the last SCOUT event of this school year, but if you’re interested in attending the one on the fall, you can sign up right here: http://www.mnu.edu/undergraduate/events.html#scout

So my Birthday is this week…like tomorrow!!! And, I know I sound really excited, but, to be honest, I think it’s just going to feel like another day to me. I think that’s what happens when you age..or maybe it’s just me. But here’s a fun fact: My sister and I (who is two years older than me), share the same birthday. Well, not technically, she was born on February 29th, but since that day only comes once every four years, we share. The neat thing, though, is that she’s pregnant…and has just started to go into labor–that’s INSANE!!!! If I have to share my birthday with two other people, I’m going to go bonkers. I love sharing, but this…this is WOW. Though, it’ll be a great birthday present. I mean, who doesn’t want a human for their birthday?!?!?!?!

Here’s a photo of my sissy and I on our birthdays! Happy Birthday, Precious!

I’d like to start by giving a shout out to Jordan Warren, member of the Pioneer Class of 2018. He asked the question, “What really goes on when class is out of session?”

Answer: MNU PD.

…well, maybe not after every class. Hopefully this will paint the picture:

One Sunday afternoon, my friend Konner and I got this idea to make a video speculating a day in the life of our very own Campus Safety, with influences from hit TV shows The Office and Reno 911. A trip to Goodwill and a few phone calls later, this video was created.

What’s interesting about this video is that we ad-libbed the whole thing and made up the plot as we were going. Also interesting: no one in the video was friends before it was created. I had never met JT or interacted with Cole. I called up Sean (Officer Mahoney,) who I only knew from class, and Lauren, who only knew Konner and myself.

Needless to say, a force to be reckoned with was born that day, and I’m happy to call them all my friends.

Jordan (and any other future Pioneers out there,) I hope this captures a little bit of the community on campus, and I hope you like this video!

So this weekend I had the privilege of going on a retreat called Epiphany, and wow was this amazing! There were about 50 of us from MNU there, and a couple people from other colleges as well! This retreat was about finding our calling, or really, figuring out what our vocation or occupation should be.

When this retreat was over, I didn’t really experience an epiphany.. (sigh) but I did gain a lot of clarity about who I am in Christ, and that my vocation right now is to let God work through me to further His kingdom in this world. This retreat focused a lot on our joys and our sorrows, and how we can enter into community and share with one another in our joys and sorrows. Then, when we come together and share in those things, we can lift them up to God and let him use those things however He wants to. It was wonderful to be a part of such an amazing community of people this past weekend who are passionate about spreading the love of Christ into the world. I feel beyond blessed to just be a part of it. So here are some pictures of the place we stayed at!

How could I post a blog without putting a sunset/cloud picture in it? :] That’s right. I can’t. This was on the way to the retreat! This place is called YouthFront and it’s absolutely beautiful!

This was the really long sidewalk/trail that we had to walk up and down every day to get to our cabins! This was definitely a work out.

We got some free time to explore around the place on one of the afternoons, and this is what I found. Isn’t it amazing? :] I was surrounded by tree’s with a beautiful view of a lake. This for sure was a place of quietness and peace that I most definitely needed.

This is another view of the lake at a different angle!

This building was where our chapel services were held. I know everything looks so dead right now because of the weather, but It really was pretty cool looking while we were there.

This is a view of the inside of the Chapel. These services were really traditional. We sat around the outside of the chapel while someone who lives at the camp played worship songs/hymns while we all sing together. He also would read some scripture and we’d all pray together. I really enjoyed this because they let us stay in there even after the prayer time was over, so a lot of people would just stay and pray for as long as they wanted to. It was quite refreshing to have that time just to sit in the Lords presence.

This is a picture of what our discussions looked like. These were amazing and very insightful!

One of my favorite things about this retreat was that they offered coffee to us, pretty much the whole time we were there. It was wonderful, and I definitely took advantage of it. :]

Well guys, that’s all I have for this week. Once again, this was another amazing opportunity I got to have spending time with an amazing community of believers and encouraging one another in our faith. I am refreshed.

If you are out of the loop, football in America has been over since the Superbowl (who knew?)

..But that doesn’t mean our Athletic office and football players have been sitting quietly.

This semester, about 700 recruited football players, all from California, have transferred in to start morning workouts and practices.

Also from California, MNU’s newest Head Football Coach: Brian Willmer! Coach W is the 6th head football coach in the program’s history. He coached at Azusa Pacific University and was an integral part of leading the Cougars to become conference champs in 2013 after just their second year in NCAA Division 2!

For those who don’t know, MNU is NAIA Division 1- so we are thrilled to have the experience of Coach Willmer on campus!

Along with professional success comes his personal success, as Coach Willmer has a gorgeous wife and 5 beautiful children. So long SoCal, kids, welcome to Kansas!

Here are some pictures from the press conference on campus last week:

President Spittal opening the conference

Athletic Director Kevin Steele introducing Coach Willmer

MNU’s new head coach!

Coach Willmer and Kevin Steele taking questions during the conference

Coach if you need a babysitter, I wasn’t joking about wanting to be best friends with your children.

So… This week was pretty crazy! It was Spiritual Deepening week, the Olympics were in full swing, and this crazy Kansas weather has been through practically 4 seasons in a week! With plenty of things to do this week, I had kind of put off thinking about what I was going to write about. Reflecting back I tried to come up with a common theme of the different events of the week, and one that came to mind was BIG DREAMS.

Now if you know me, I am a big dreamer. I am always dreaming of the future and different plans. But this week I have really felt God challenge me in a different way. One week a semester we have Spiritual Deepening week where an invited speaker comes and speaks at various chapels. There are the regular Tuesday/Thursday chapels, and then they add Sunday-Thursday night plus a Wednesday morning for extra time to listen to the speaker. For Spiritual Deepening week this semester we had a guy named Scott Daniels come in. Monday night Scott shared about us serving a BIG God, that we should surround ourselves with BIG people, so we can do BIG things.

This really challenged me. It challenged me to see the world in a different way, because our God is BIG and He wants to use ME and YOU in BIG ways! Can I stress the word BIG enough? Now that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about the little things, but it does mean that we need to allow our BIG God use us to do BIGGER dreams than what we can possibly think of.

In correlation with that message, I have been watching the Olympics almost every night this week. Watching these athletes compete was so exciting! These people spend most of their lives training to get a chance to make the team, or for some to get on that podium. Imagine these people so many years ago explaining to their parents the dreams they had to be on the Olympic team, and to hear their country’s national anthem up on the podium. Their parents probably thought they were crazy! I mean, the OLYMPICS?! That’s a BIG dream!

U.S. Gold medalists for ice dancing, Meryl Davis and Charlie White! I was rather excited to see them with gold.

But I think that is what is so cool about watching these events. These athletes had and have big dreams, and they put in all they can to accomplish these dreams. Reflecting on this gave me a chilling question… What would this world and the kingdom of God look like if Christians had the mindset of Olympic athletes to achieve BIG GODLY dreams? WOW

So I am now praying that God would not let me see Him as a little God, but as a God who has BIG plans and BIG dreams for me and for all of us. So maybe this can be a good challenge for you as well! Where are you in life? High school? God has BIG dreams and plans for you right where you are at. College? God has BIG dreams and plans for you right where you are at. And so on..

I encourage you to think BIGGER!

Quick, random side not for you… a couple of guys (whose names I do not know) built Olaf from Frozen! Props to you guys!

Oh and photo cred for the chapel picture goes to the awesome David Luna!

I can’t even begin to describe how crazy my life has been these last two weeks. SO much has happened in SO little time, and there are not enough seconds to breathe….

But then again, that’s just college: Deadline after, deadline after, deadline–it’s exhausting and it’s a habit I can’t adjust to.

Anyway, I thought I’d share one of my days with all of you!

Recently, my admission’s job asked me to take a student to the airport, but she wasn’t just any student, she was a future Pioneer. She had been in Kansas for a couple of days, checking out the University’s turf and auditioning for band. (If you’re interested in checking out the campus for free, click this link!)

When her days were up, I drove her to the KCI airport, so she could catch her flight at two that evening. However, as always, nothing ever goes as plan. We arrived only to realize that her flight was delayed, and then cancelled, and we were sitting in the airport for hours. With the Grace of God, one of the sweetest ladies re-booked the flight, and our future Pioneer was able to make it to Ohio later that day.

It’s days, like those, when I am so thankful to have a job here on campus. If it weren’t for admissions, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet an amazing girl and build a relationship.

I couldn’t be more blessed.

A big shout-out to one of our future students, Jillian! Thanks for visiting our campus, and being totally spontaneous! MNU can’t wait to have you back! Whoo! Go class of 2018!

If you have seen my recent blogs, they are missing a key component of the UNIVERSITY.. Academics! I just wanted to take a smidge of of what I am learning and give you a glance in. This is what Dr. Dean Flemming likes to call an Inductive Study.

This is for The Book of Acts class I am currently taking. We are going through the whole book and looking at prescriptive and descriptive texts from scripture. We take this passage and evaluate narrative construction, repetition, key words, really simple things that, when put together, make something beautiful and so applicable.

The piece above is from Acts 5. It may seem like a bunch of writing and random arrows, but it is really a culmination of personal and group analysis. In the analysis, we talked about God’s character, Jewish Law, and the actions of the Holy Spirit then and now.

I want to show you this not to only showcase how cool Flem-Dog is; but to show you what this university is about.

What you learn in the classroom shouldn’t stay just there. It should enable you to change your daily life and impact the lives around you. Real world understanding is grasped in every class; whether when we leave or in our future career. I am blessed to learn about the Bible with my peers and mentors and get to find out ho God is daily.

So this second semester of college can get pretty hectic sometimes! Everyone is thinking about what they’re going to be doing this summer and maybe even for the next school year! I wanted to share with you guys just a few of the different, exciting opportunities that are offered here at MNU and inform you what they are all about!

(And take note, these are only a few of the many opportunities that are offered here at MNU!)

Personally, I am looking into auditioning for SERVE teams for this summer. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a traveling team of MNU students that represent the college at different Nazarene churches and camps throughout the whole summer. They have multiple teams that you can be a part of, there’s the worship team, sponsor team (the counseling team), Action Pact (our improv team), and we just added another one which is our student preachers team! I am trying out for the worship team for this summer! If you want to know even more about this, here’s a link to the part of the MNU website that gives you more information than I can give you!

The second thing I want to tell you guys about is the RA positions. I know that if you’re reading this and you’re going to be an incoming freshman, this doesn’t apply to you right now, but as you come here and get to know your RA that you will have for the rest of the year, start thinking about if you would want to be one for your sophomore year! It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to be an example to maybe the freshman class coming in the next year, or even an RA in the upperclassmen dorms that the people who live there can go to for help with anything. That’s what I’m thinking about doing this next year as well! It’s crazy to think about how fast this year has gone by, and we only have about 8 more weeks of this semester left! So these are just 2 of the things I am considering for this next year. There are so many cool things that you can be a part of here at MNU, and if you’re thinking about coming here next year, do not hesitate to get yourself connected with them! You will not regret it!

Anyways, this coming week is our spiritual deepening week! We have this once every semester for a whole week.This means we have multiple services throughout the whole week with a worship session and a message that follows it. These are always so great to go to because it is really refreshing to come and worship with everyone, and also make sure we are keeping ourselves in line with God’s will for our lives. These services also bring about transformation in peoples lives, and this isn’t because of the people, I believe it’s because God is there, present, and has the power to change lives. :] It’s really awesome to see God moving through these services!

Here’s a picture of College Church where these services are held! This was actually at one of the services that was going on last night! (Isn’t it beautiful?):

It was also my birthday this past Tuesday, so I wanted to show you guys some pictures of how lovely my friends are. :]

Everyone was super busy on my actual birthday, (last Tuesday) so that next Thursday, I invited some of my friends to go to the cheesecake factory! This was a great idea, but also a really bad one. We all had classes that next morning, and we didn’t get back to the dorms till around 10:30 that night! With a stomach full of cheesecake. But other than that, it was so much fun, and i had a wonderful time with these amazing friends. :]

Here’s just SOME of the cheesecake that we got to choose from! :]

This was my cheesecake! I got a chocolate mousse cheesecake (that can’t remember the name of right now) but seriously….i almost died it was so good.

Now on Tuesday night, which was my actual birthday, i went to my aunts house and had dinner with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins! I absolutely loved having a home cooked meal on my birthday, and they even baked me a chocolate cake with chocolate icing! They also had chocolate ice cream to go with it! I was in heaven. One of the things that I’ve learned in college is to appreciate the home cooked meals you get, every once in a few months. :] If even that.

Well, I promised that my next blog post would be more exciting so i hope it lived up to your expectations. :] Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I tried going to Starbucks in the afternoon this past Sunday…….BAD IDEA. if you’re wanting a quiet place to go and do your homework on a Sunday afternoon, do not go to a coffee shop. It’s insane. Luckily, i found 1 seat open at the 3rd coffee shop i went to. The picture at the top of my blog shows how busy it was at the Starbucks i ended up at.